a fair question........................

 

   more fun here

Swayed.................

 The most powerful word in negotiations is "Fair."  As human beings, we're mightily swayed by how much we feel we have been respected.  People comply with agreements if they feel they've been treated fairly and lash out if they don't.

-Chris Voss, Never Split The Difference:  Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

On fairness...................

 The most powerful word in negotiations if "Fair."  As human beings, we're mightily swayed by how much we feel we have been respected.  People comply with agreements if they feel they've been treated fairly and lash out if they don't.

-Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

the eye of the beholder..............

When “fairness” [or “fair” trade] replaces “freedom” [or “free” trade] all our liberties are in danger.

….

There is no objective standard of “fairness” [or “fair” trade]. “Fairness” [or “fair” trade] is strictly in the eye of the beholder. To a producer or seller, a “fair” price is a high price. To the buyer or consumer, a “fair” price is a low price. How is the conflict to be adjudicated? By competition in a free market? Or by government bureaucrats in a “fair” market?

-Milton Friedman, as channeled by Mark Perry

Worth re-reading from time to time....

On seeking fairness......................

....................................in a world generally described as "unfair:"

"....despite appearances to the contrary, there is no evidence that people are bothered by economic inequality itself. Rather, they are bothered by something that is often confounded with inequality: economic unfairness."

-from this paper, Why People Prefer Unequal Societies, as pointed to by Greg Mankiw

On Pre-existing conditions..................

....................................................Life its ownself from Seth Godin.

Further proof............................

..........................(as if you needed any) that life is not fair:

Blessed with the instinct to chase squirrels, zero ability to climb trees.

More thoughts on the care and feeding.......

..................of the goose that lays the golden eggs.  Tomorrow is the date we all have to settle up with the IRS for the year 2015.  While some grumbling is perhaps expected, it pays to remember:

                               Atomism

Notions like "taxation is theft" rely on atomistic individualism for 

whatever plausibility they have. Taxation would be theft if:

1) The natural state of human beings was to exist as isolated 

individuals, somehow in full possession of a bunch of property 

despite their isolation; and

2) These atomic individuals then entered into a "social contract" 

in which they agreed to live in a society with other humans, but 

nly on the condition they get to keep all of the property they had 

when they lived alone.

Of course, both one and two are complete nonsense: human 

beings would not even be human beings apart from a human 

social group. Our natural state is to live in a group with a 

number of other human beings, and the monads of atomic 

individualism have only existed in history due to terrible 

mishaps. And they certainly possessed no property!

Furthermore, the natural state of affairs in these groups was to 

treat resources as the possession of the group. Private property 

was an innovation (and a very useful one) granting some 

individuals greater rights in regards to some resource than 

anyone else. But being granted to an individual by their social 

group, it is quite naturally subject to revocation by the group 

and to whatever other conditions the group puts upon its 

possession. Such as, for instance, "You may have control over 

this land, and the proceeds you earn from using it, on the 

condition that you return 10% of those proceeds to the group."

Tax evasion, not taxation, is theft! And you are "coerced" into 

paying your taxes only if you try to weasel out of your 

obligation to pay them, just as you are "coerced" into paying 

for your groceries.

-Gene Callahan

Just in case...........................

..............................you needed reminding:

Thanks Kurt

Something must be done....................!

"Bottom Line: It might be a little disingenuous and hypocritical for Hillary Clinton to complain about excessive CEO pay when her minimum speaking fee, reportedly $225,000 for a one-hour talk, is more than the $216,000 average annual CEO salary in 2014. We could say how unfair it is that the average CEO in America has to work a full year, 50 weeks full-time, to earn the same income that Mrs. Clinton earns in about 50 minutes giving a speech! How unfair! How immoral! Something must be done!"

Source, and back story, here

Life its ownself...............................

"The problem isn’t that life is unfair – it’s your broken idea of fairness."   Oliver Emberton challenges us to  re-think our notions of "fairness" and to align ourselves with how the world really works.  Full post is here.  Fun drawings here:

He concludes: "Most of us get so hung up on how we think the world should work that we can’t see how it does. But facing that reality might just be the key to unlocking your understanding of the world, and with it, all of your potential."

thanks stuart

Can we get an Amen....................................?

... I always remind myself: "The universe is not here to please you" and "nature doesn't care about fair." 
-Megan McArdle

image via

Learning that life is not fair...................

via

Not a bad way to think about................

.........................................................life its ownself:

When evaluating scientific findings, I always remind myself: "The universe is not here to please you" and "nature doesn't care about fair." 
-Megan McArdle, as excerpted from here

On level playing fields...........................

      My friend the Hawk and I were playing the first hole at Prestwick in Scotland;  the wind was howling out of the left.  I started an eight-iron thirty yards to windward, but the gale caught it;  I watched in dismay as the ball sailed hard right, hit the green going sideways, and bounded off into the cabbage.  "Sonofabitch!" I turned to our caddie.  "Did you see the wind take that shot?"
       He gave that look that only Scottish caddies can give, "Well, ye 've got t' play th' wind now, don't ye?"
      The professional conducts his business in the real world.  Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged.  The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven.

-Steven Pressfield,  The War of Art:  Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Blocks
     

Don't know if it's progressive, but it sounds OK......

When investing, try not to forget this advice...

"I try to encourage people to be skeptical, because it is genuinely rare when a deal is exceptionally good for an average person.  Most of the time in life, you are doing pretty well if you are getting a fair deal, particularly when it comes to financial matters."
-David Merkel, as excerpted from here

On fairness.................................................

"Yes, life is unfair but we need not be accomplices."
-Michael Wade

On paying a fair share...........................

Scott weighs in with a ghost story.  Those pesky ghosts.......